C. Andrew Hovan

For the first time in at least five years, it seems that the jazz market has evened out, with few surprises and even fewer reissues when compared with the plethora of vault goodies that have seen the light of day over the past decade. Although Ken Burns’s Jazz created some momentum, marketing ploys favored the kind of compilation discs that hardcore jazzers stay away from like the plague. Nonetheless, among the slim pickings this year were the selected gems listed below, in no particular …

Well it’s been a few years now that the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder has been working on restoring the legacy that he’s played such a big part in. The man responsible for the larger than life sound that categorized the vast majority of Blue Note recordings from the late ‘50s to the late ‘60s, Van Gelder first started his project of remastering albums in 24-bit digital for Japan. While the American counterpart series to the Japanese is quite a bit smaller in scope, quite re …

Following the most recent batch of Van Gelder reissues that focused on the label’s earliest sides (the current set of Stateside RVG Editions numbers some 56 albums), a new set of titles launched at the start of 2002 attempts to pick up some stray items from the modern period, including several albums that have never been available in the United States on compact disc. So, in no particular order, here’s a quick synopsis of some praiseworthy and up-to-the-minute RVG Editions.

When it comes to the opportunity to expose some of the many talents that got lost in the shuffle during the ‘50s and ‘60s, no other concern has more to unearth than Fantasy’s group of associated labels, including Prestige, Riverside, and Contemporary. Through their Limited Edition Series, Fantasy is able to present releases that will undoubtedly appeal to only a small number of jazz fans, but will nonetheless have importance in bringing to light some unfairly ignored performers and performances. …

Without a doubt, the piano trio provides an ideal format for jazz. Complex and yet ideally manageable, the grouping can speak with the authority of a big band or bring it down to a soft whisper. Furthermore, the bass and drums offer up enough variety in terms of sound and texture to keep it all interesting. Even after Bill Evans and others have had their say in terms of what the piano trio offers, the ensemble continues to be a viable one in the hands of some modern practitioners, as we shall se …

There once was a time when the big bands accounted for a surge in jazz music’s popularity, the likes of which we will never see again. The economical landscape of the ’30, ‘40s and ‘50s was quite different from the current era of high inflation and diminishing returns. It is only on rare occasions then that today’s jazz musician finds himself (or herself, in the case of Maria Schneider) able to wield large ensembles and when it does occur it’s usually in the form of a special one-shot offering o …

It’s been several years now since Blue Note’s Japanese counterpart Toshiba-EMI enlisted the services of master recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder in order to reissue classic items from the catalog in new 24-bit remasters handled by the man himself. Albeit with more modest aspirations in terms of mere quantity, it wasn’t long before the folks at Blue Note here in the United States decided to launch their own series of Van Gelder mastered reissues. At summer’s end, we saw another half dozen titles …

To put things candidly, the music industry has suffered through a year of conservatism and slim pickings at best, yet another victim of the post 9/11 state of affairs that has hampered business and the health of the economy in general. While the past few years have seen a decrease in the number of reissues to hit the market, the real surprise this year came in the modest amount of new releases and even among these it was a hit and miss affair in terms of real quality. Gone are the days when one …

For many avid jazz followers, producer Jordi Pujol’s Fresh Sound label served as a bastion for reissues of some of the most obscure catalog items. The independent Spanish company leased a number of classic sides from such labels as Jubilee, Hi-Fi Jazz, Roulette, Regina, and many others. A few years ago though, Pujol decided to get into the business of recording new music and now Fresh Sound New Talent can count itself among such other distinguished Indies as Criss Cross Jazz, SteepleChase, and R …

Since the ‘70s, producer Nils Winther has documented European and American jazz artists in a no-frills manner and released a plethora of albums on his own grass roots SteepleChase imprimatur. With an active release schedule, it seems that more albums get released over the course of a year that any one reviewer can possibly make time for and so with this in mind, this is the first of a two-part piece that will discuss in brief some of the label’s most recent activity.